Archives 6/10-6/16 2005-2010

The New York Times had an interesting piece on how mannequin design has changed along with everything else in this business. A company called Fusion Specialties in Broomfield CO, has a brisk business in designing custom retail forms. Be sure to see the slide show (photo at right from the NYT). Fusion’s site is pretty slick; the one absence was how and why did this company start? Why Bloomfield? I have to tell you, I love it when companies like this are situated off the beaten path. More proof that you don’t have to live in a first tier city to make a go of it in this business.

I’ll leave you with the archives posting of the week (2,000+ more in the archives). In the meantime, I’ve lots of chores to do for the coming week -one of which is sewing a sportcoat for Mr. Fashion-Incubator. I couldn’t find anything suitable beyond a woven stripe so it’s time to put up or shut up (more in the forum). I hope your weekend is equally challenging and fun.

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Kathleen started production patternmaking in 1981. Starting in 1993, she began providing consulting and engineering services to manufacturers, small companies, and startups with an emphasis on developing owner-operator domestic cut-and-sew operations. In 2015 she opened a 5,000 sqft. fully equipped sewing factory: The Sewing Factory School. Kathleen is the author of The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing, the most highly rated book of any topic in the garment industry. She's been mentioned numerous times in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, National Public Radio, Boston Globe, LA Times, Vogue, French Vogue and has at least 15 Project Runway alums at last count. Kathleen writes nearly all of the articles on Fashion-Incubator.com and hosts its forum, the largest private online community for apparel manufacturers on the web.

JT, my observance makes more sense in the context of longstanding site culture (you’re new, welcome!). Those of us in the west and hinterlands (like me) are somewhat annoyed by suggestions that only NY is fashion worthy. These mannequins are as fashiony as one could get and I don’t think my analogy was inappropriate in that manufacturing has been seeping out of “the” first tier city for a long time while at the same time, the city as the center of the retail and marketing business side (showrooms, editorial etc) has only gotten stronger. So if anything, now more than ever one could expect a mannequin maker to be in NY or close by in NJ. Iow, retailers of appreciable size have a presence there (read: hdqtrs, purchasing etc) but the same couldn’t be said of manufacturing. LA surpassed NY in total domestic apparel jobs almost 15 years ago. Now California is losing jobs to Texas. But that’s another story. Truly, manufacturing was much more regional (and hopefully resuming) than most people today realize.

Just so everyone is aware, the “off the beaten path” comment is self-referential. The Entrepreneur’s Guide was written in Ft. Stanton, NM. Time and again, we have been dismissed by New York fashionistas whose view of the fashion world seems to be exactly that depicted on the cover of the March 29, 1976 copy of The New Yorker, where everything west of the Hudson to the Pacific is about the same size as Manhattan.

So, yes, Bloomfield is a vibrant city, but in the view of the fashion world, it might as well be Anna Creek Station, or Las Cruces.

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Often described as the garment industry “blue book,” Kathleen's book is the most highly rated guide to the business. The Entrepreneur's Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing is guaranteed to get you off to a solid start or your money back. Many service providers will require you to read it before they’ll work with you.